Purpose
by AllusionToAnIllusion
Summary: The case is over with, they're the only ones left in the abandoned precinct, time for a little team bonding. One-shot


**I've had this running around in my head for a while and I finally got to writing it. It's kind of pointless, but I thought I'd share it with all of you. **

**Disclaimer: I'm 15 years-old, I do not, in any shape or form, own Castle. No matter how much I wish I did. **

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"Castle!" He stopped chatting incessantly, frozen in the process of saying yet another annoyingly irrelevant comment. Looking up at her face he saw her exasperated expression; clearly counting backwards from ten in effort not to pull out her gun and practice her aim on something other than a paper cutout.

"Yes?" He pretended like he had been doing nothing wrong, nothing that could possible annoy her, he was the picture of innocence.

"If you don't stop talking right now I'm going to gag you with one of Esposito's gym socks, I know his locker combination so don't even try to mess with me," she leaned towards him until their noses were almost touching before she finished her command, "kitten." His eyes widened, partially from the breach of code, she was under no circumstances allowed to call him that, and partially from how close she was, he could clearly see the flecks of yellow in her eyes and could smell her scent perfectly, the intoxicating smell of cherries dancing its way towards his nose. He gulped and mimed zipping his mouth shut, throwing the imaginary key into the trash basket by the side of her desk. He picked up a paper clip and busied himself by trying to make different shapes out of it, pretending not to stare at her every few minutes wondering exactly which perfume she was wearing.

Everyone had cleared out of the bullpen; that is except for him and the very determined cop beside him who was currently scaling Mount Paperwork. The case was over, another killer put behind bars because of New York's finest and any normal person would have gone to celebrate, or at least gone home to relax. But no, not Beckett. She wasn't what most people would call normal, she was determined beyond belief and never, under any circumstances, would she leave the precinct before all work was completed, in her world this was unheard of. But that's why he was there, introducing some good old-fashioned chaos into Ms. Routine's life. He was there for one reason and one reason only, to corrupt.

"Beckett?" No answer, she didn't even look up, she'd clearly resorted to ignoring him.

"Detective?" He tried sounding remorseful, like he was sorry for trying to get her to loosen up for once in her life. Sadly, it did nothing to break her concentration.

"Kate?" He saw a slight change in her facial expression he could tell had nothing to do with the file she was reading, halfway there.

"Katie?" This was going to do it, her concentration was already broken; he just needed her to have a reason to pay attention to him. And that nickname was certainly a reason, he may even lose a limb because of it. Her eyes shot up to meet his, an intense glare that would've scared him if he thought she would ever follow through on what she was insinuating with her eyes. Truthfully, he was still a little scared even though he knew the threat was all bark and no bite.

"Castle?" She sweetly cooed at him, leaning in yet again.

"Mmm?" He had an idea of what to expect, and this was not it.

"Never, ever," and that's when her hand shot out to grab his ear, yanking forcefully, that's what he had expected, "call me Katie."

"Can I at least call you Kate?" He questioned when she finally let go, simultaneously rubbing his ear.

"Nope." She had gone back to reading the file, raising it just a little higher than before in an attempt to hide the smile painting itself on her face, unfortunately for her he caught a glimpse of it before she covered it completely with the folder.

"But Alexis gets to call you Kate." He whined, jutting his bottom lip out and breaking out the puppy dog eyes.

"Have you ever considered that I like Little Castle better than Big Castle?" She threw him a smirk and raised her eyebrow at him, eyes twinkling with laughter.

"You wound me, dear detective!" Feigning pain he placed his hand over his heart, grimacing as if he'd been shot.

"Somehow I think you'll pull through," she smiled again, this time not trying to hide it, "though if you need to take some time off to recover feel free to do so." She turned away from him to type up a document on her computer, but not before grinning in his direction. As she typed her brow furrowed, how he loved that little furrow, he'd made sure Nikki Heat had inherited that from her. Then she bit her lip, driving him crazy and amusing him to no end at the same time. He'd memorized every facial expression, each contour of her face, but that, the subtle biting of the lip, that was her signature. Well, that and her eye roll.

"How about when we're alone?" He asked as he propped his feet up on the desk.

"What?" She mimicked his position, resting her feet on top of his legs as she leaned back in her chair.

"Can I call you Kate when we're alone?"

"Why is it so important to you that you can call me Kate? Not even Ryan and Esposito call me Kate." Her brow furrowed again as the corners of her eyes narrowed slightly.

"No, they don't, but if they wanted to they could. Beckett is just too formal, it's like we're just colleagues. But I consider you a friend, and a close friend at that. You're so much more than just someone I work with, and calling you Beckett doesn't show that. I don't have to call you Kate all the time, I just want the option. I just want to be able to break out 'Kate' when we're all alone, because you're more than just my colleague, much more." He looked at her a moment seriously before taking advantage of those puppy dog eyes yet again, "Please?" She turned back to her paperwork, thrusting her head back into the file. He was sure she'd forgotten about their conversation when she didn't answer for several minutes, head still buried within her file.

"Okay." She said quietly, still not looking up from her work.

"What?"

"You can call me Kate." She looked up at him, he searched her eyes and found emotions that she never let him, or anyone else for that matter, see. But most of all, he found friendship, he found a certain kind of affection he'd only ever seen from Kate Beckett. Just then her stomach chose to growl, ruining the rare moment between them.

"You're hungry." It wasn't a question.

"No, I'm fine." She averted her eyes, looking down at the floor, her hands and finally the spot where her feet rested on his legs, seemingly studying the contour of the shapes.

"When was the last time you put something in your body that wasn't coffee?" He gave her a stern look, forcing her eyes back to his. But after she briefly met his eyes she just averted them again, mumbling something incomprehensible.

"What was that?" She answered again with unclear mumbling and hushed tones.

"Kate." Now that he had been granted that very special reward he intended to use it as much as he could, maybe even abuse his power a bit.

"Yesterday night I had some Thai food." She still refused to look at him, now seemingly doing her paperwork.

"That's almost twenty-four hours ago," he knew she had thrown herself into this case, but twenty-four hours, that was way too long to go without refueling, "come on."

"What?" Her eyes were on his frame as he slid his legs out from under hers, standing as he grabbed her jacket, holding it out to her expectantly.

"We're going to dinner, now come on." His voice left no room for argument, but she was a stubborn woman.

"No, Castle, I have wo–" She protested before he cut her off.

"No, Kate, we're going to get you some food." They battled silently for a few minutes, exchanging glares and a few raised eyebrows. After a few moments she got up, quietly gathering her things before taking the coat he was holding out to her. Shutting down her computer she turned to the elevator and began walking, neither saying a word. When the elevator dinged above them and the wide doors parted they stepped inside, standing just a little closer than socially acceptable. Invading each other's personal space, that's what they did. He was surprised when she leaned in even more than was usual for them, though he didn't protest, just resting his hand on her lower back. It was comfortable, completely natural for them. As the elevator doors began to close, leaving behind murder and mayhem for the night, she looked up at him, a small smile coming to her lips.

"You're paying, Rick." And just like that last names had been thrown out the window, deemed much too formal for the pair to use any longer. Sure, they'd come back to work in the morning and he'd greet Beckett, and she'd thank Castle for the coffee. But tonight they were Kate and Rick, tonight they didn't have to worry about the formalities, tonight they were just content to be. Yes, this is what he was here for, the reason he was thrown into her life. He was thrust into her order and her routine for one purpose, a mission to fulfill, he was sent to mess it all up. To introduce disarray and chaos, but mostly importantly, fun. Yes, he was sent to the 12th precinct to spread laughter and teasing, to open a tough and by-the-book detective up to the world. And it was only the beginning, he was just getting warmed up.

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**Well, review it? I'd really appreciate a review, it would mean the world to me. **


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